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Gen Phoenix, of Peterborough, England, recently unveiled a change in its aircraft seat cover design, making the product able to be recycled and remade into new seat covers after the end of its service life. The new fabric is Helios, which contains finished leather scraps among its postindustrial and postconsumer content, and the seats’ coating is bio-based. The design change to using a recycled polyester backing instead of foam was the key to the new fabric’s recyclability.
“One of the most difficult areas of an aircraft seat to recycle is the cushion and dress cover system,” says Gary Doy of Doy Design of West Midlands, England, which was among the Gen Phoenix partners on the project. “To solve this problem, we needed to reevaluate the construction of the system and design a product with recycling in mind. We worked closely with Sabeti Wain Aerospace [Sands, England] to develop a cushion system that can be readily disassembled at the end of life whilst delivering a long-lasting product.”
Gen Phoenix also partnered with Impressions Technologies of Coventry, England, to design the seat frames using recycled aluminum to achieve an entire aircraft seat that can be recycled. The slim seat won a Red Cabin Trinity Award in the category Sustainability Concept in 2024.
The companies debuted the seat covers at aircraft trade shows starting in May, with widespread commercial availability of the seat targeted for early 2025. Gen Phoenix’s next challenge is to create plant-based materials for seat covers, Nico den Ouden, chief innovation officer and general manager–seating at Gen Phoenix told FlightGlobal.
Gen Phoenix is also establishing a take-back program to collect the seat covers at their end of life to serve as feedstock.